Robert E Rasmussen.com

Since the resurrection aspect of the Jesus way primarily draws attention to Him, we can expect that Satan will seek to draw attention away from Jesus. The method the deceiver typically uses is to tempt the disciple to draw attention to him or herself. The enemy of manifesting Christ is our own self-importance.

Jesus gave a scathing rebuke to his generation because they carefully discerned weather signs but failed to understand signs of the kingdom of God. “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times” (Matt. 16:3b).

Today, people carefully study the financial outlook, the sports prognosis, home improvement possibilities, sales coupons, and leisure options. We are experts in reading the signs of the times for our own self-interest. But we are content to be novices in that which concerns God. This is perfectly understandable for those who make no claim to follow Jesus, but those who say they have love for Him and desire to serve Him are only hypocrites, for in reality they do not care to understand God’s ways.

What single sign did Jesus provide His generation? And how is that still the sign given to our generation?

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matt. 16:4).

Jonah prefigures the ministry of the greatest prophet – Jesus. Jonah was called by God to preach repentance to an obstinate city, Nineveh. He disobeyed, but repented and surrendered during his life crisis in the depths of the sea. He rose from the depths, fulfilled his assignment of proclamation, and watched as God brought revival to the city.

Jonah’s three days in the belly of a great fish typify Jesus’ burial and resurrection. And the risen Christ living His new life through His followers today is still the sign given by God to a skeptical world. It is theirs to accept or reject. It is ours to live and display in great faith.

What cross-like experience have you been through that God likely used in the lives of others who watched you going through it?

If we liken our lives to an unfolding drama, living the gospel amounts to being cast in the role of Jesus in every scene we are asked to play. His teachings become our lines, His attitudes become our response. His wrestling through to obedience, His willingness to sacrifice, and His taking up His cross are the story lines we strive to portray, for we are His disciples. Our sole ambition is to be like Him to the greatest degree possible.

When I speak of life in this way, I do not mean that we are merely play acting. While we are not substituting for Christ who uniquely died to live the gospel, yet we are following His pattern in ways the Bible clearly commands. We are not pulling mythical ideas out of the air. Instead, we are displaying a new way of living because there is in all the universe one living Savior who has become our consuming passion. And this is true only because we first became His passion.

The highest reward for following Jesus is living His resurrection life, which is eternal and dynamic, and the fulfillment of our purpose for existence. Our greatest honor is to have fellowship with the risen Son of God in which our spirits dwell together with Him.

Our goal should be to find the Jesus role in every situation, large or small, and fulfill it in dependence on His Spirit. Imagine what your life would be like as you do that. Think of what your families and church would be like. Your experience would not be easier. In fact, it would be impossible for you to depict the character of Jesus if everything went smoothly all of the time. No, to exemplify your Master requires that you encounter scenes in Gethsemane and Golgotha. The role calls for false accusation and betrayal. Without a crisis of wills you would never cry, “Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.” Without opponents you would never pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Only with these extreme challenges can you manifest the Christ who forgave His enemies, paid the penalty of all our sin, and rose from death!

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Because of the excellence of Christ in heaven, we can excel while still on earth.

Scripture brags about the innumerable blessings which come to the disciple as a result of the resurrection of Christ. In Ephesians chapter one, the Apostle Paul extols the fact that “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” is ours through Christ (Eph. 1:3). He then fills out the revelation by describing the implications for believers based on the fact that the Christ, who died and rose again, now sits in the heavenly places “far above all principality and power and might and dominion” (Eph. 1:21).

The gospel work of Christ – surrender, death, burial, resurrection – has established Him forever in the position of highest authority in the heavens. The present importance of this fact for all believers surpasses adequate description. One could plumb the depths of this truth for years and never fully mine its riches. No wonder Paul prays for the faith community in Ephesus – in a way that we should pray for ourselves – that God would grant a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ (Eph 1:17). So much is contained in the Son of God that only divine insight can begin to unveil it. Our prayerful longing should continue as did Paul’s: That the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened, that we may know the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (Eph. 1:18).

And there is more. Because of the excellence of Christ in heaven, we can excel while still on earth. We must pray to know the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Eph. 1:19), which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead. We can know the all-excelling power of Christ in resurrection .

These truths are not threatened by the existence of spiritual forces of evil. There are principalities and powers, might and dominion seeking to wreak evil in heaven and earth, but Christ has conquered them all and rules from far above them. This is true not only now, but also in any age that is to come (Eph. 1:21).

And should anyone think that the church is an optional choice in following Christ, he or she should think again, for one of the benefits flowing from Christ’s gospel accomplishment is His headship over the church, which is His body. One does not want to consider the very body of Christ as superfluous to genuine faith, especially since, by revelation, we know that the church is the fullness of Christ even as the body is the expression of His headship (Eph. 1:22-23).

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Often resurrection is considered primarily or solely as that which will happen to disciples at the end of the age. Praise God that is true. Christ defeated death through His resurrection. But Scripture clearly teaches the reality of the resurrection in our present journey with the Master:

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:4-5).

“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:10,11).

Because Jesus is alive today, our following Him is not merely the preservation of past memories. We are not simply keeping Him alive in our thoughts. Instead, He actually walks alongside us as Jesus did with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-35).

As we follow the Jesus way, burial leads to resurrection. As we have said elsewhere, Jesus’ story did not end in the tomb, and neither does yours. Resurrection is the passion of God to complete the gospel story in you.

Here is an amazing key to understanding where you are along the Jesus way. Clarify your story by working backwards: If you want to know where resurrection-life is being manifest in you, look where you have had a burial-like experience. And when you want to identify a burial-like experience, search for the Golgotha-like experience which required sacrifice. Finally, look for the Gethsemane experience where God initiated this gospel cycle by asking you to surrender to His will over your own.

You may wonder why I choose the “manifestation” as the main idea of present-day resurrection. Why not focus on new life, or power, or glory? Why not victory, or shalom, or healing? Why not passing the test, or learning the lesson? These are all quite wonderful. But resurrection is not primarily about us. It’s is about God fulfilling His promises in the Son. As His crucifixion loomed, Jesus said in His disciple’s presence:

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name” (John 12:27-28a).

On the eve of His death, and just after Judas had gone out to betray Him, Jesus referred again to the manifestation of His glory in His impending crucifixion.

“So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately” (John 13:31-32).

And so I am convinced that we go through these rigorous gospel cycle experiences primarily to make Christ manifest as the risen Lord who lives in and through us. Without comparison, this is the most profound experience affordable to any man, woman, or child.

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